Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps
"Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps" is the sixth episode of Season 3 of Community. When Britta discovers that an anonymous personality test suggests that one of them is a homicidal maniac, she convinces each of the study group members to tell a scary story in order to determine who the possible killer is. Plot At the insistence of Britta, the study group gathers in Group Study Room F for a pre-party before the real Halloween party. When Jeff arrives, Britta takes him aside and tries to explain the real reason she threw the pre-party: it turns out the results of the anonymous psych tests she had them take a few weeks ago has determined that someone in the group is mentally unbalanced. Jeff believes she "Britta'd" the test results, but she insists she double checked her findings. With Jeff's reluctant assistance, Britta begins the investigation by asking the group to tell scary stories. By analyzing them, she hopes to ferret out who the potential homicidal maniac is. HFISSS It was a dark and spooky night.png|It was a dark and spooky night in the woods... HFISSS Making out in a parked car.png|A couple was making out when they are interrupted by... HFISSS Radio anounces escaped mental patient.png|...a radio announcement about an escaped lunatic from a nearby psycho ward. HFISSS That sounds dangerous.png|''"That sounds dangerous!"'' HFISSS Taking a look outside.png|''"Fine, I'll get out and look, but then I'm entitled to sex."'' HFISSS Psycho with a hook handed thingy.png HFISSS Im being stabbed repeatedly by his hook handed thingy.png|''"I'm getting stabbed by his hook hand thing!"'' HFISSS Oh my God No I was right.png|"Oh my God! No! I WAS RIGHT!" HFISSS Waiting for the killer.png|Dealing with the killer in a calm rational manner. Britta starts it off by telling a generic story about a couple making out in a car parked in a dark wooded area. They stop their activities when a news announcer on the radio reports that a hook-handed convict escaped from an asylum. The boyfriend leaves the car to have a look outside and runs into the convict who stabs him repeatedly. When Britta asks Abed's opinion of the story, he tells her he found it to be embarrassing. He recounts his own horror story where the couple acts overly logical and takes the necessary precautions to deal with the escaped killer. The others find his story to be just as bland as Britta's, and Annie decides to tell a real horror story. HFISSS I am a monster.png|''"I am a monster and I must feed."'' HFISSS Im fine with it.png|''"I'm fine with it."'' HFISSS Teach me to read.png|''"Wait! Teach me to read!"'' HFISSS Learning how to read.png HFISSS Your porcelain neck in the light of the full moon too appetizing.png|''"Your porcelain neck in the light of the full moon...too appetizing."'' HFISSS A werewolf that feeds on selfish vampires.png|''"I'm a werewolf that feeds on selfish vampires!"'' HFISSS Im a die by werewolf.png|Im a die by werewolf! Annie tells a story set in the Victorian age of a school teacher who encounters a handsome stranger when stranded in the woods after being thrown from her horse. This stranger supposedly took her back to his cabin to treat her wounds but in reality had a more sinister objective. He reveals himself to be a vampire and at first wanted to have her join his undead concubine. However, he can't seem to make up his mind about whether he wants her to stay or go. Eventually, his thirst for her blood overwhelms him. He is about to attack her when she reveals that she is a werewolf and ends up killing him instead. Annie describes the violence in gory detail much to the dismay of the rest of the study group. Shocked by her story, Britta believes she may have found her suspect and starts to question Annie. Jealous of the attention Britta is giving her, Troy decides to tell a horror story of his own. He tells the tale of two fighter pilots who crash-land near an old scientist's cabin. The scientist drugs them both and experiments on them. He awakens them and gleefully tells them they've been sewn together. Unexpectedly, the experiment results in the duo being given mind powers which they use to beat the scientist unconscious. Some time later, the pilots revive him and reveal that they experimented on the scientist too. They took his butt and put it on his chest, in essence giving him the appearance of boobs. To torment him further, they also switched his hands with his feet, so he couldn't fondle them. Abed ends up being the only one who enjoyed the story while Pierce is annoyed as he rightly assumed the crazy old scientist was meant to represent him. Pierce offers his own tale about a character he calls Magnum that he later admits is an idealized version of himself. He succeeds in frightening the study group with it although this is mainly due to its offensive sexist and racist themes and not because of any horror aspect. Annie suggests that the stories are starting to become too personal as the bimbos in Pierce's narrative were the women of the study group and the stereotypical hoodlums he beat up were meant to be Troy and Abed. Shirley agrees and laments the overuse of violence in the last few tales. Shirley launches into her own story describing a group of friends decadently partying in a cabin. A radio announcement interrupts their debauchery and informs them it's the "End of Days, when all the good people are called up to heaven while the bad ones are left behind on Earth. The Devil arrives to claim the friends and take them to Hell. A friend of the partiers, a devout Christian, makes a dramatic appearance and banishes the Devil. The friends thank her and ask her if they can accompany her to Heaven, but she says she can't and just came to say goodbye. When she departs, the Devil reappears with a chainsaw and repeatedly chops up the friends for all eternity. HFISSS Brittas death.png HFISSS The psycho revealed.png|The killer revealed? Shirley's sermonizing brings the storytelling to an end and prompts the others to try to leave for the real Halloween party. They are stopped by Britta and Jeff, and she comes clean about the personality test results and why she wanted them to tell spooky stories. The rest of the group refuses to believe one of them could be a psycho, but Britta insists that they need to figure it out. She goes on to explain what might happen if that unbalanced person is left unchecked. The horrific details causes the study group, including Jeff, to back away from her. They remind her that she took the test too which causes Britta to consider the possibility that she might be the psycho. The lights then suddenly go out and when they come back on everyone is armed. HFISSS Armed and dangerous.png|Jeff attempts to calm things done with a story... HFISSS the psycho.png|A hook handed psycho interrupts a grathering of friends. HFISSS Tell us why you kill.png|"Tell us why you kill people!" HFISSS I kill because im afraid.png|"Fear. I kill because I'm afraid. Can I get a hug?" HFISSS Hug.png|A group hug resolves everything. The end. HFISSS The test scores.png|Starting from the center and moving left to right, the sanest to the craziest. Jeff tries to defuse the situation by telling another story about friends who form a bond with a hook handed psycho. The group dismiss the story as nonsense and question Jeff's sanity. This makes him admit to randomly filling out his answers and causes Annie to scrutinize the test sheets. She points out that Britta had run the tests backwards in the scoring machine. Embarrassed, Britta runs the tests again and the results are reversed: only one of them is sane while the rest are crazy. Shirley suggests they not try to figure out who the tests belong to; this way they can all believe that they are the sole sane one. Everyone agrees and as they leave for the party the camera pans back to the tests where it's revealed to the audience that Abed was the sane one. End tag Troy and Abed's horror story is continued, and it sees the two sewn together fighter pilots discussing their future plans via the psychic connection they now have. Recurring themes Continuity: *'Previously': Troy points out that the Dean got some taco meat for the Halloween party. *'That just happened:'The plot of this episode is based around the psych tests the study group took in the end tag of "Competitive Ecology". *'WWBJD?: 'Shirley's horror story is essentially her sermonizing to the group and extolling her Christian values. *'This must be the place': "Group Study Room F", log cabin Running Gags: *'Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!': For the third time on the show, the movie Beetlejuice is referenced, this time by Annie. Following the rules in the movie, Betelgeuse suddenly appears in the background. *'Nice outfit': Jeff appears as a "Fast and the Furious" type character and as a vampire, Britta appears as a vampire concubine and a hook handed psycho, Annie appears as a chaste schoolteacher and werewolf, Troy and Abed appear as Inspector Spacetime and Constable Reggie as well as fighter pilots, Pierce appears a mad scientist and Magnum, Shirley appears as an angel, Ben Chang appears as a hook handed psycho, Dean Pelton appears as a witch and the Devil. *'Deanotation':The Dean greets Jeff and Britta by saying, "Trick or Dean!". *'Awww!': In Jeff's horror story, Chang is revealed to be the psycho who says all he wants is a hug. His request elicits "Awwws!" from the study group who join Chang in a group hug. *'Rhyme time': When Abed asks Pierce if the Magnum character in his horror story was supposed to be Pierce, he replies,"Still am, Pakistan! Want to try me?". *'You're the worst!: '''The study group has taken to using Britta's name as a verb, essentially meaning 'to screw something up'. *'Troy and Abed in the mor-ning: In the end tag, "Troy and Abed stitched toge-ther". Pop culture references: *'''Name that tune: In this episode, Abed introduces what later becomes a recurring theme in the season, a song titled "Daybreak". *'Well read': Britta imagines a scenario where she is killed while reading "War and Peace" but thinks the title of the book is "Warren Piece". Meta references: *'Behind the scenes': Justin Lin, who directed "Fast and the Furious:Tokyo Drift", "Fast & Furious", and "Fast Five" also directed a number of Community episodes in Season One including the critically acclaimed "Modern Warfare". Jeff's costume in this episode as one of the heroes of that franchise is perhaps a nod to Justin Lin's contributions to the show. Quotes Images Horror Fiction 2.jpeg Horror Fiction 3.jpeg Horror Fiction 4.jpeg Horror Fiction 5.jpeg Horror Fiction 6.jpeg Horror Fiction 7.jpeg Videos thumb|400px|left|Behind the Scenes thumb|400px|left|Troy and Abed rob Pierce. Category:Season 3 Episodes Category:Community Episodes